Of Stone and Sky
by Selkit
Summary: Of all the things Lady Aeducan expected to happen in her life, being banished from the Stone, living under the sky, and falling in love with a human were not among them. Fifty one-sentence snapshots of the relationship between two Grey Wardens.


**Author's Notes: **Written for the 1sentence community on LiveJournal. The sentences are in order according to the prompt numbers, not chronologically, so they jump around a bit timewise.

In my previous video game (Mass Effect) fics, I've avoided giving the PC a first name. In this case, however, it felt weird to just refer to her as "she" or "Aeducan" in all fifty sentences, so I called her Ashtoreth after my Aeducan.

* * *

**01 – Walking**

"They don't call them the 'Deep Roads' for nothing," Ashtoreth says, and though her weary tone matches Alistair's, she sends him a smile as she adds, "Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and we'll get out eventually."

**02 – Waltz**

She's never thought of humans as a particularly graceful people, but the first time she sees Alistair nimbly dodge to avoid a darkspawn's spear, she thinks she might have to ask him just how well he knows the Remigold.

**03 – Wishes**

Alistair's eagerness to meet his sister is so endearing that Ashtoreth swallows her words of caution, pushing Bhelen's face from her mind; later, she wishes she hadn't held back.

**04 – Wonder**

In the midst of his rush to rescue belongings from a sudden downpour, Alistair stops to watch Ashtoreth staring up at the sky, her eyes wide with almost childlike awe as raindrops stream down her face.

**05 – Worry**

He often finds his fellow Warden hard to read—a lifetime of navigating dwarven politics has given her an uncanny ability to hide her emotions—but as they draw closer and closer to Orzammar, even she can't disguise her growing dread.

**06 – Whimsy**

"Let me get this straight," she says, fighting hard to suppress a grin, "you want to stop and have a picnic in the middle of a Blight?"

**07 – Wasteland**

When they pass through Lothering, she pauses by one of the empty ruined cottages, her arms stiff at her sides, and he fidgets awkwardly for a moment before settling his hand on her shoulder.

**08 – Whiskey and rum**

Later, Alistair can't recall exactly how he ended up clad in one of Wynne's robes teaching Ashtoreth the finer points of the Remigold, but he does remember the mage shaking her head and mildly instructing him to "just wash it when you're done."

**09 – War**

It's strange to see Alistair's normally twinkling eyes darken with fury whenever discussion turns to Loghain; the fact that she knows just how he feels brings little comfort.

**10 – Weddings**

Marriage wasn't a topic that often entered her thoughts when she was royalty, but as she watches the reconciled Dalish couple clasp hands and whisper sweet nothings, her mind involuntarily strays to post-Blight life as her eyes drift to the Warden at her side.

**11 – Birthday**

Back in Orzammar her birthday would have been a whirlwind of sound and celebration, food and drink, congratulating and scheming in equal measure; here there's nothing but a quiet campground and a bashful former templar offering her a crumbled piece of day-old cake, yet somehow it's just as special.

**12 – Blessing**

Ashtoreth can't help but fidget as the priest stretches out her hands and murmurs the Chant, but she's surprised to see that Alistair looks almost as uncomfortable as she feels.

**13 – Bias**

She doesn't particularly care for his kind—not that she _dislikes_ humans, she just prefers to live her life and let them live theirs—so when she catches herself chuckling at his wisecracks and sneaking glances at him as they walk, no one is more surprised than her.

**14 – Burning**

Alistair is panting harder than Ashtoreth's mabari when he plops down next to his tent, only half-aware of Morrigan's voice carrying across the camp—_"blast this beastly weather!"—_but when their fearless leader's stark-naked form sprints out of nowhere toward the nearby lake, the heat in his belly has nothing to do with the temperature.

**15 – Breathing**

"That woman would disagree with you if you said _breathing_ was a good idea," Alistair mutters, glaring at Morrigan's back, and Ashtoreth smothers her laughter with a cough.

**16 – Breaking**

He may not have much experience with women, but even Alistair can tell Ashtoreth is upset as she returns from speaking with the dwarven shopkeeper in Denerim; when he makes a tentative half-joking offer to "hold him down while you punch," the sad little laugh that escapes her makes his heart leap and fracture at the same time.

**17 – Belief**

"We can do this," he says, voice quiet but earnest; "_you_ can do this," he adds, and she lets out a resolute breath, willing her doubts away.

**18 – Balloon**

"I can't believe we're threatened by darkspawn at every turn, and it's a bloody _sprain_ that gets me," Alistair grouses, glaring at his swollen ankle, and Ashtoreth grips his fingers in one hand and covers her grin with the other.

**19 – Balcony**

Standing on the grand hall's dais with Alistair at her side and the cheers of Ferelden's citizens ringing in her ears, she can scarcely believe she was condemned to die alone only months before.

**20 – Bane**

When Alistair finally tells her about the true cost of being a Grey Warden, she's momentarily shaken to the core; the taint in her blood is a different kind of enemy than Orzammar's constant threat of knife or poison—that was _if_, this is _when_.

**21 – Quiet**

Ashtoreth is never what anyone would call talkative, but after they leave Dust Town, her silence is so long and deep that Alistair begins to worry.

**22 – Quirks**

She soon discovers that Alistair whiles away long hours of travel by humming intermittently, and the fact that he can't carry a tune in a bucket somehow makes it charming instead of irritating.

**23 – Question**

The Landsmeet is filled with tension and intrigue, the question of Ferelden's next ruler weighing like a stone on everyone's minds, and for the first time since leaving the Deep Roads Ashtoreth feels like she's back at home.

**24 – Quarrel**

Sometimes when the fatigue sets in and the stress mounts, it's all she can do to keep from throwing a royal fit, and finds herself cursing the camp's lack of doors to slam.

**25 – Quitting**

She can practically feel her heart melt when he awkwardly asks one morning if she'd like any help braiding her hair, but after several attempts end with more curses and tangles than braids, she cheers him up with a kiss and tells him it's the thought that counts.

**26 – Jump**

"Sorry about that—didn't know my flying leap was going to cause that big of a splash," says a sheepish Alistair, peering at the waterlogged and unamused dwarf standing on the bank.

**27 – Jester**

"Well, look at that," she says, sending him a sly glance as they pass by a lamppost in Redcliffe; "A pity it's not winter," she continues, and her grin widens as the heat rises in his cheeks.

**28 – Jousting**

The first time Ashtoreth takes him and Morrigan along on an errand, Alistair notices she doesn't say much; he also notices that she never takes the two of them anywhere ever again.

**29 – Jewel**

He frets and hems and haws, staring at his knuckles clenched white around the rose stem and wondering what possessed him to pick it; she's nobility—no, _royalty_—why would someone so used to fine things want a simple flower?

**30 – Just**

Her heart is pounding, fingers trembling with anticipation, and in this moment it feels like it was worth everything—Dust Town, the Deep Roads, the horror of the broodmother—to finally be able to stand in front of Bhelen with her axe in her hand.

**31 – Smirk**

"Well," she says, unable to stop her lips from quirking, "the part about you being raised by flying dogs from the Anderfels may have been a joke, but I see the story about your eating habits wasn't."

**32 – Sorrow**

She's assured him that her heart lies with the Grey Wardens now—and with him—but when they descend into Orzammar's halls, he doesn't miss her glittering eyes or the catch in her voice when she looks to the Stone overhead and whispers, "_Atrast vala_."

**33 – Stupidity**

"Fools," Sten mutters, glowering at the two Wardens walking ahead—laughing and touching and _glowing_ as though they haven't a care in the world, as though an archdemon isn't poised to end life as they know it—and Morrigan snorts her agreement as she injects, "'Tis positively disgusting."

**34 – Serenade**

"Trust me," Leliana says, eyes glinting with mirth at his predicament, "women _love_ to be wooed with song—would you like me to give you some pointers?"

**35 – Sarcasm**

"I have _such_ fond memories of this place," Ashtoreth murmurs to him just before they enter the Deep Roads, and though she forges on without hesitation, her eyes are hooded and her hand is cold on his.

**36 – Sordid**

Alistair can practically feel steam shooting out his ears when Ashtoreth lets her elven would-be assassin join the party, and though his indignation is in large part because _"he just tried to kill us!"_ he would be lying if he claimed Zevran's roving eyes and shameless come-ons didn't enter into the equation.

**37 – Soliloquy**

Morrigan has hardly left the room before Ashtoreth begins to pace back and forth, the mage's proposal burning in her thoughts, words boiling up and out of her in a low, ferocious mutter, and she doesn't realize she's thinking out loud until she hears Alistair's voice at the door asking if she's all right.

**38 – Sojourn**

Before, her desire to reach Denerim had been a constant tingle under her skin; now, she wants only to make the stay as brief as possible, the memory of her former second's words bringing nothing but bitterness in the back of her throat.

**39 – Share**

"My dear, you look absolutely famished," Alistair declares, and his grin is cheeky when he holds up his most cherished possession and adds, "Would you like some cheese?"

**40 – Solitary**

The constant travel and thin tent walls make it near impossible to ever be truly alone, but they savor the rare late-night occasions when all their companions are sleeping.

**41 – Nowhere**

They're in the middle of some barren, Maker-forsaken field, sweaty, battered, bloody and bruised, but as Alistair meets Ashtoreth's eyes over a pile of fresh darkspawn corpses, he knows there's nowhere else he'd rather be.

**42 – Neutral**

She'd thought her life as a noble had given her the ability to always keep a straight face, but she finds it difficult to stop a blush from spreading when Wynne pulls her aside with a soft but serious "Dear, do be sure to come see me if you need any contraceptive herbs."

**43 – Nuance**

When she first met him, she'd thought it bemusing if not slightly irritating that he always seemed to deflect serious questions with humorous answers; as time passes and their relationship deepens, distinguishing which jokes mean he wants to talk and which mean he'd rather be left alone starts to become second nature.

**44 – Near**

Alistair likes dogs—really—and he knows the mabari are renowned for devotion to their masters, yet he still wonders if it's _truly_ necessary for Ashtoreth's blasted hound to plop itself right by her tent just as things are getting…_interesting_.

**45 – Natural**

Alistair is a bit taken aback when one of Bhelen's supporters murders one of Harrowmont's right in front of them, but Ashtoreth merely sidesteps the rivulets of blood and continues down the pathway.

**46 – Horizon**

Weeks after leaving the Stone, she still finds herself staring openmouthed at the shades of red and gold that decorate the evening sky, drawing a chuckle from Alistair as he comments, "I keep forgetting you've never seen a sunset before."

**47 – Valiant**

Her feet are firmly planted on the ogre's sloping belly, her small hands wrapped around the sword still buried in its heart, her face splattered with its gore, and Alistair doesn't realize he's staring starry-eyed until Leliana's gentle snicker brings him back to Thedas.

**48 – Virtuous**

When he leaves her tent for the first time, he feels giddier and more satisfied and all-around _better_ than he has in months, but he still casts a cautious eye upward for those sudden lightning strikes the sisters warned him about.

**49 – Victory**

"Well, Leliana may have won," Alistair says, casting a mock glare at the bard celebrating her triumph in their latest darkspawn-slaughtering contest, "but since you and I killed seventeen apiece, I propose a tiebreaker to hash out second place."

**50 – Defeat**

"All right, I'd say you took the tiebreaker," he manages between gulping breaths, but as his hands continue roving over the small yet forceful body above him, he's never been so happy to be vanquished in his life.


End file.
